(or, a quick chat on whole cloth quilts)

I just made my first king size quilt.

I've been a quilter for... hmmm... 15? 17? 13? years now, and the largest quilt I'd made previously was a queen size quilt.  But it was finally time to make a quilt for my bed, and that required a king size.

I had very specific needs for this quilt.  I've been sleeping increasingly hot over the last few years - to the point that even though it might be -25C (-13F) outside, I would have the window open so that I wouldn't overheat. And yet, I really like the weight of a blanket - I am not comfortable with just a sheet! So, a handmade, specialty quilt was required.

I chose to go with wool batting - I know, that feels wrong, given what I just said about sleeping hot.  But wool is known for it's breathability and is purported to keep you warm when it's cold and cool when it's hot; so I decided to test this.

A linen fabric was chosen for one side and a cotton double gauze for the other to complete the natural fibre content of the quilt. Let me show you the finished quilt before I tell you the rest of the details:

"Ohhhhhh...." you say! "You cheated!! This isn't a pieced quilt!"

You are so right.  I wanted a simple king size quilt that was just easy to make and easier to use, so a whole cloth quilt fit the bill perfectly.

A whole cloth quilt is an easy project - one piece of fabric for the top, another for the backing, and your choice of batting in the middle. Quilt it in the manner you'd like, and add a binding! Done! The size of quilt that you want dictates the size of fabrics and batting that you use.

You could make it super easy on yourself and use a wide back fabric for both sides of the quilt, but since I knew I wanted to use this rose linen and a coordinating double gauze, I sewed two strips of each fabric together.  Does that make sense? Two strips of linen made up the quilt top, two strips of double gauze made up the backing. But now we made it to the basting step... and I really didn't feel like stretching this out on the floor.

A word about basting - I am typically a pin baster, especially for larger quilts. I find that the pins do a better job of preventing shifting, particularly if I am machine quilting.  But I was planning to hand quilt this quilt, and hand quilting is often more forgiving, it doesn't cause puckers as quickly. So I did what I wouldn't necessarily recommend... and I spray basted this big boy.

Early one Saturday morning before the shop opened for the day, I positioned two big tables end to end, and section by section, I spray basted those layers together! It was about 9' x 8' of quilt, working two feet across at a time, slowly getting all of it secure. I did add pins around the perimeter, just to make sure the edges wouldn't lift.

And then it was ready for hand quilting!  I used the most perfect colour of Trailhead Yarns - Ginger.

And just quilted alongside the grid on the linen.  So simple.

But it still took awhile.

I took this huge quilt on a few road trips - stuffing the bulk of it down by my feet so that I could work on a small portion at a time. And then it was done!

Check out the quilting on the double gauze, isn't that so cozy looking?

I've been sleeping with this quilt for about a month now and here is my official report on how I feel about this combination of natural fibres:

It's wonderful.

Yep, I would do it again! The wool batting provides a cozy drape and weight, but doesn't make me overheat! I've been sleeping soundly and not throwing the blanket off and on all night!  

That's my official report - any questions? If a king size sounds intimidating, check out our blog post on smaller whole cloth quilts HERE!

Happy sewing!